Analyzing user behavior at kiosks to identify recommended products

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to determining products for a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding to a retail establishment, and to determining products for a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding to a retail establishment and based on a user&#39;s current or past behavior. In one scenario, a computer system receives user input including project information. The user input is converted into an electronic signal. The project information includes various user choices related to color profiles, and related to project materials or layout. The computer system determines a type of home project being pursued based on the received information. The computer system identifies products that correspond to the determined type of home project and received color profiles, and displays to the user images of the products that correspond to the determined type of home project and to the received color profiles.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 15/575,528 filed on Nov. 20, 2017, which is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 USNational Stage of PCT/US2016/033327, filed on May 19, 2016, which claimsthe benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/165,725,filed on May 22, 2015. The entire content of each of the aforementionedpatent applications is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Many homeowners upgrade the look of their homes by doing home projects.In a majority of these projects, the homeowner paints one or more rooms.In particular, the walls, ceiling, doors, etc. can be earmarked for anew coat of paint. The homeowner may have a general idea of which colorsto use, but often goes to a hardware or paint store to obtain paintswatches to identify colors they may be interested in using. These paintswatches may provide an indication of what various paint colors lookslike when dry.

In some cases, these hardware or paint stores provide paint kiosks whichusually house a variety of paint chips or color swatches for users toidentify desired paint colors. The paint kiosks allow users to viewdifferent colors of paint and make determinations as to which colors ofpaint they would like to purchase. The paint kiosks may then assist theusers in obtaining the paint in the color they have selected.

Oftentimes, when planning a home project, a user will want to determinenot only a paint color for a given room, but will also want to identifycomplementary home décor items that go with the chosen paint color.Identifying matching home décor items may not be intuitive to somepeople. Moreover, there may be many different products offered by aretail establishment of which the user is simply not aware. As such, theuser is unlikely to identify those products as being useful incompleting their home project and, as a result is also unlikely topurchase those products from the retail establishment.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In the present invention, current or past behavior a computer systemreceives user input that corresponds to project information. The userinput is converted into an electronic signal. The project informationincludes various user choices related to color profiles, and related toproject materials or layout. The computer system determines a type ofhome project being pursued based on the received information. Thecomputer system identifies products that correspond to the determinedtype of home project and received color profiles, and displays to theuser images of the products that correspond to the determined type ofhome project and to the received color profiles.

The present invention further describes a computer system thatdetermines products for a home project at a point of sale locationcorresponding to a retail establishment and based on a user's current orpast behavior. The computer system gathers current or past behaviorinformation corresponding to a user and determines different types ofbehavior corresponding to the user's current or past behavior. Thecomputer system further determining colors and/or products thatcorrespond to the determined type of user behavior and displays to theuser images of the colors and/or products that correspond to thedetermined type of user behavior.

The present invention also provides a kiosk computer system. The kioskcomputer system includes at least one processor, a receiving module forreceiving user input, where the user input corresponds to projectinformation and where the user input is converted into an electronicsignal. The project information includes user choices related to colorprofiles and to project materials or layout. The kiosk computer systemfurther includes a project determining module for determining a type ofhome project being pursued based on the received information, a productidentifying module for identifying products that correspond to thedetermined type of home project and received color profiles, and adisplay for displaying to the user images of the products thatcorrespond to the determined type of home project and to the receivedcolor profiles.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

Additional features and advantages will be set forth in the descriptionwhich follows, and in part will be apparent to one of ordinary skill inthe art from the description, or may be learned by the practice of theteachings herein. Features and advantages of the present invention thepresent invention may be realized and obtained by means of theinstruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims. Features of the present invention will become more fullyapparent from the following description and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To further clarify the above and other features of the presentinvention, a more particular description will be rendered by referenceto the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depictonly examples of the present invention described herein and aretherefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The presentinvention and examples will be described and explained with additionalspecificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a computer architecture in which the presentinvention may operate including determining products for a home projectthrough a kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding to a retailestablishment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for determiningproducts for a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale locationcorresponding to a retail establishment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for determiningproducts for a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale locationcorresponding to a retail establishment and based on a user's current orpast behavior.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example in which products for a home project aredetermined through a kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding toa retail establishment and based on a user's current or current or pastbehavior.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a retail establishment layout includingpaint area and kiosk.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a kiosk that includes a display anduser input devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention described herein is directed to determiningproducts for a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale locationcorresponding to a retail establishment and to determining products fora home project through a kiosk at a point of sale location correspondingto a retail establishment and based on a user's current or pastbehavior. In one example, a computer system receives user input thatcorresponds to project information. The user input is converted into anelectronic signal. The project information includes various user choicesrelated to color profiles, and related to project materials or layout.The computer system determines a type of home project being pursuedbased on the received information. The computer system identifiesproducts that correspond to the determined type of home project andreceived color profiles, and displays to the user images of the productsthat correspond to the determined type of home project and to thereceived color profiles.

In another example, a computer system determines products for a homeproject at a point of sale location corresponding to a retailestablishment and based on a user's current or past behavior. Thecomputer system gathers current or past behavior informationcorresponding to a user and determines different types of behavior orbehavior patterns associated with the user's current or past behavior.The computer system further determines colors and/or products thatcorrespond to the determined type of user behavior and displays to theuser images of the colors and/or products that correspond to thedetermined type of user behavior.

In another example, a kiosk computer system is provided. The kioskcomputer system includes at least one processor, a receiving module forreceiving user input, where the user input corresponds to projectinformation and where the user input is converted into an electronicsignal. The project information includes user choices related to colorprofiles and to project materials or layout. The kiosk computer systemfurther includes a project determining module for determining a type ofhome project being pursued based on the received information, a productidentifying module for identifying products that correspond to thedetermined type of home project and received color profiles, and adisplay for displaying to the user images of the products thatcorrespond to the determined type of home project and to the receivedcolor profiles.

The following discussion now refers to a number of methods and methodacts that may be performed. It should be noted, that although the methodacts may be discussed in a certain order or illustrated in a flow chartas occurring in a particular order, no particular ordering isnecessarily required unless specifically stated, or required because anact is dependent on another act being completed prior to the act beingperformed.

The present invention described herein may implement various types ofcomputing systems, and may use these computing systems to performcomputerized methods. These computing systems are now increasinglytaking a wide variety of forms. Computing systems may, for example, behandheld devices such as smartphones or feature phones, appliances,laptop computers, tablets, wearable devices, desktop computers,mainframes, distributed computing systems, or even devices that have notconventionally been considered a computing system. In this descriptionand in the claims, the term “computing system” is defined broadly asincluding any device or system (or combination thereof) that includes atleast one physical and tangible hardware processor, and a physical andtangible hardware or firmware memory capable of having thereoncomputer-executable instructions that may be executed by the processor.A computing system may be distributed over a network environment and mayinclude multiple constituent computing systems.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a kiosk computing system 101 may include atleast one processing unit 102 and memory 103. The memory 103 may bephysical system memory, which may be volatile, non-volatile, or somecombination of the two. The term “memory” may also be used herein torefer to non-volatile mass storage such as physical storage media orphysical storage devices. If the computing system is distributed, theprocessing, memory and/or storage capability may be distributed as well.

As used herein, the term “executable module” or “executable component”can refer to software objects, routines, or methods that may be executedon the computing system. The different components, modules, engines, andservices described herein may be implemented as objects or processesthat execute on the computing system (e.g., as separate threads).

In the description that follows, the present invention is described withreference to acts that are performed by one or more computing systems.If such acts are implemented in software, one or more processors of theassociated computing system that performs the act direct the operationof the computing system in response to having executedcomputer-executable instructions. For example, such computer-executableinstructions may be embodied on one or more computer-readable media orcomputer-readable hardware storage devices that form a computer programproduct. An example of such an operation involves the manipulation ofdata. The computer-executable instructions (and the manipulated data)may be stored in the memory 103 of the computing system 101. Kioskcomputing system 101 may also contain communication channels that allowthe computing system 101 to communicate with other message processorsover a wired or wireless network. Such communication channels mayinclude hardware-based receivers, transmitters or transceivers, whichare configured to receive data, transmit data or perform both.

The present invention described herein may comprise or utilize aspecial-purpose or general-purpose computer system that includescomputer hardware, such as, for example, one or more processors andsystem memory, as discussed in greater detail below. The system memorymay be included within the overall memory 103. The system memory mayalso be referred to as “main memory”, and includes memory locations thatare addressable by the at least one processing unit 102 over a memorybus in which case the address location is asserted on the memory busitself. System memory has been traditionally volatile, but theprinciples described herein also apply in circumstances in which thesystem memory is partially, or even fully, non-volatile.

The present invention described herein may also include physical andother computer-readable media for carrying or storingcomputer-executable instructions and/or data structures. Suchcomputer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby a general-purpose or special-purpose computer system.Computer-readable media or storage devices that storecomputer-executable instructions and/or data structures are computerstorage media or computer storage devices. Computer-readable media thatcarry computer-executable instructions and/or data structures aretransmission media. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, theinvention described herein may comprise at least two distinctlydifferent kinds of computer-readable media: computer storage media andtransmission media.

Computer storage media are physical hardware storage media that storecomputer-executable instructions and/or data structures. Physicalhardware storage media include computer hardware, such as RAM, ROM,EEPROM, solid state drives (“SSDs”), flash memory, phase-change memory(“PCM”), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magneticstorage devices, or any other hardware storage device(s) which can beused to store program code in the form of computer-executableinstructions or data structures, which can be accessed and executed by ageneral-purpose or special-purpose computer system to implement thedisclosed functionality of the present invention.

Transmission media can include a network and/or data links which can beused to carry program code in the form of computer-executableinstructions or data structures, and which can be accessed by ageneral-purpose or special-purpose computer system. A “network” isdefined as one or more data links that enable the transport ofelectronic data between computer systems and/or modules and/or otherelectronic devices. When information is transferred or provided over anetwork or another communications connection (either hardwired,wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computersystem, the computer system may view the connection as transmissionmedia. Combinations of the above should also be included within thescope of computer-readable media.

Further, upon reaching various computer system components, program codein the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures canbe transferred automatically from transmission media to computer storagemedia (or vice versa). For example, computer-executable instructions ordata structures received over a network or data link can be buffered inRAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”), and theneventually transferred to computer system RAM and/or to less volatilecomputer storage media at a computer system. Thus, it should beunderstood that computer storage media can be included in computersystem components that also (or even primarily) utilize transmissionmedia.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which, when executed at one or more processors, cause ageneral-purpose computer system, special-purpose computer system, orspecial-purpose processing device to perform a certain function or groupof functions. Computer-executable instructions may be, for example,binaries, intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, oreven source code.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles describedherein may be practiced in network computing environments with manytypes of computer system configurations, including, personal computers,desktop computers, laptop computers, message processors, hand-helddevices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,mobile telephones, PDAs, tablets, pagers, routers, switches, and thelike.

The present invention may also be practiced in distributed systemenvironments where local and remote computer systems, which are linked(either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by acombination of hardwired and wireless data links) through a network,both perform tasks. As such, in a distributed system environment, acomputer system may include a plurality of constituent computer systems.In a distributed system environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote memory storage devices.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the present inventionmay be practiced in a cloud computing environment. Cloud computingenvironments may be distributed, although this is not required. Whendistributed, cloud computing environments may be distributedinternationally within an organization and/or have components possessedacross multiple organizations. In this description and the followingclaims, “cloud computing” is defined as a model for enabling on-demandnetwork access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources(e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). Thedefinition of “cloud computing” is not limited to any of the othernumerous advantages that can be obtained from such a model when properlydeployed.

Still further, system architectures described herein can include aplurality of independent components that each contribute to thefunctionality of the system as a whole. This modularity allows forincreased flexibility when approaching issues of platform scalabilityand, to this end, provides a variety of advantages. System complexityand growth can be managed more easily through the use of smaller-scaleparts with limited functional scope. Platform fault tolerance isenhanced through the use of these loosely coupled modules. Individualcomponents can be grown incrementally as business needs dictate. Modulardevelopment also translates to decreased time to market for newfunctionality. New functionality can be added or subtracted withoutimpacting the core system.

FIG. 1 illustrates a computer architecture 100 in which the presentinvention may be employed. Computer architecture 100 includes kioskcomputer system 101 (or simply “kiosk 101” herein). Kiosk computersystem 101 may be any type of local or distributed computer system,including a cloud computing system. The kiosk computer system 101includes modules for performing a variety of different functions. Forinstance, the communications module 104 may be configured to communicatewith other computing systems. The communications module 104 may includeany wired or wireless communication means that can receive and/ortransmit data to or from other computing systems. The communicationsmodule 104 may be configured to interact with databases, mobilecomputing devices (such as mobile phones or tablets), embedded or othertypes of computing systems.

The kiosk computer system 101 may further include an input receivingmodule 110. The input receiving module 110 may receive input 106 from auser 105. The input 106 may include project information 107, along withcolor profile selections 108 and project material selections 109. As theterm is used herein, “project information” may refer to any type of datarelated to a specified home or business project. A home or businessproject may include remodeling, repainting, redecorating, adding orremoving spaces or even building a new home or office. The projectinformation may thus include materials, timelines, home décor objectsincluding artwork or furniture, budget information or any otherinformation related to a work that is to be performed on a house, officeor other spaces including outdoor spaces.

Specifically, in some cases, the project information will be related toremodeling or repainting projects where a user (e.g. 105) is repaintingone or more rooms and is using the kiosk computer system 101 todetermine a paint color to use on a project, customize a paint color,color coordinate a paint color with other home décor items, or find homedécor items that match a certain paint color. For instance, a user maybe working on a bathroom repainting project. The user may then selectitems that are related to that bathroom project. The user can select thecolor for the bathroom on their own, or the kiosk computer system 101can provide color suggestions. Once the color is selected, the user maybe presented with various home décor items that correspond to theselected paint color. The kiosk computer system 101 may suggest homedécor items that are similar to home décor previously purchased by theuser or that correspond to purchases made by other users. The kiosk maythen allow the user to purchase one or more of the presented home décoritems. As such, the user may be able to select and purchase paint aswell as corresponding home décor items.

The kiosk computer system 101 may thus receive user input 106 and applythat input to a specific task. The project determining module 111 mayanalyze the project information 107 received in the user input 106. Theproject information may specify one or more color profiles 108 that theuser 105 would like to implement in a home project. For example, theuser may wish to paint their living room, and may wish to implement twoor three complementary colors. Thus, the user may have selected one ormore color profiles 108 that are to be used when identifying productssuch as home décor items that would go along with the selected colorprofiles.

The user 105 may also have selected various project materials 109 thatare to be used on the home project. These materials may include paintsor stains, wallpaper, baseboards, carpeting, wood flooring, curtains,ceramic tile, cupboards, countertops, appliances, faucets or any othertype of material or item that may be used in a home project. As the userdetermines which materials to select for a given room, the kioskcomputer system 101 remembers the choices and user behavior for futurepurchases and future projects. Then, on future projects, the kiosk canpresent one or more of the material choices based on the pastinteraction. In some cases, the project information 107 may furtherinclude an indication of layout for some or all of the projectmaterials. Thus, if the project is a kitchen remodel, the user 105 mayprovide some indication of how the materials are to be spaced or laidout in a given room. This layout information may assist the projectdetermining module 111 in determining what type of project the user isattempting.

When the user interacts with the kiosk computer system 101, each of theuser's interactions may be monitored, stored and/or analyzed. The kioskcomputer system 101 may track what the user hovers the mouse (or theirfinger) over, what the user clicks on (or selects with their finger),what the user adds to a project, which pictures are viewed and for howlong, etc. This user behavior may be stored and analyzed by the kioskcomputer system 101 or may be transmitted to another (perhaps cloud)computing system.

In some cases, for example, items that are selected more frequently orare viewed more frequently or are viewed longer may be assigned a higherranking, and may be shown more often to other users. This tracked userbehavior can help the retail store to target specific ads or products tothe end user or other end users based on the product or paint color'spopularity. This also helps the retailer know what to purchase forinventory purposes. Still further, the kiosk computer system 101 may betied to point-of sale transactions. As such, the kiosk can determine,base on point-of-sale transactions, which items are most often beingpurchased by customers. These purchased items may be categorized byproject. The most popular items may then be suggested to other userswhile they are preparing their project on the kiosk. The retail storemay thus use this behavior information as an analytical tool tocontinually improve the results shown to users.

Once the kiosk computer system 101 has determined a general or specifictype of home project 112, the product identifying module 113 may use thedetermined home project to identify products that are available within agiven retail establishment. The product identifying module 113 may belinked (e.g. via communications module 104) to, or may otherwise haveaccess to, product information for a given store. The kiosk computersystem 101 may thus be aware of which products are offered for sale at agiven store, and may further be aware of which products are currently instock at that store (or at other neighboring stores). The productidentifying module 113 may thus be configured to identify products 114that are currently in stock at a certain store, are in stock at aneighboring store, or which could be purchased at the store's website orthrough other channels.

The identified products 114 are related, in some fashion, to thedetermined home project 112. For instance, the project determiningmodule 111 may determine, based on the user input 106, that the user 105is either building a deck or a shed based on the selected projectmaterials 109. The product identifying module 113 may then identifyproducts that go along with a deck or shed, such as bracing brackets,nails, screws, windows, planter boxes, barbeques, roofing materials orother related items.

In cases where the user 105 provides a color profile 108, the identifiedproducts 114 may include separate paint colors for the sides of the shedand the door of the shed, or a separate color for shudders to place nextto the windows in the shed, or roofing that color coordinates along withthe colors for the shed walls. In another example, the projectdetermining module 111 may determine that the project is a kitchenremodel. The product identifying module 113 may identify kitchen-relateditems that match or correspond with the selected color profiles 108provided by the user, and are available for purchase in the store. Anyproducts identified by module 113 may then be displayed in the kioskdisplay 115. These concepts will be explained further below with regardto methods 200 and 300 of FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively.

In view of the systems and architectures described above, methodologiesthat may be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matterwill be better appreciated with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 2and 3. For purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies areshown and described as a series of blocks. However, it should beunderstood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is notlimited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what isdepicted and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks maybe required to implement the methodologies described hereinafter.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method 200 for determining productsfor a home project through a kiosk at a point of sale locationcorresponding to a retail establishment. The method 200 will now bedescribed with frequent reference to the components and data ofenvironment 100.

Method 200 includes receiving user input at the kiosk, the user inputcorresponding to project information, the user input being convertedinto an electronic signal, the project information including one or moreuser choices related to one or more color profiles, and one or more userchoices related to project materials or layout (210). For example, theinput receiving module 110 of kiosk computer system 101 may receive userinput 106 from user 105. The user input 106 is converted to anelectronic signal understood by the kiosk computer system 101. The userinput may be a keyboard input, a mouse input, a touch input at atouchscreen, a data file or information provided by the user via a thumbdrive or via a wireless data transfer (e.g. via Bluetooth), or othertype of input. The user input 106 may include project information 107which itself may include user choices related to color profiles 108 orto selected project materials 109 or project layout.

In some cases, the project information 107 may be accessed by the kiosk101 from a home computing system belonging to the user. Additionally oralternatively, the project information 107 may be accessed from a userprofile stored on a server or in the cloud. This user profile maycontain purchase history, project history or other current or pastbehaviors associated with the user. Thus, the user 105 may select colorcombinations and/or materials for the project at home on their computer,and allow the kiosk computer system 101 to access those color andmaterial selections from that home computer or from their stored userprofile. The kiosk 101 may access the project information from a cloudcomputing system such as a cloud data store. In such cases, the user 105may upload their project information 107 to a cloud data store, and thenaccess that cloud data store using the kiosk 101, or perform steps thatallow the kiosk to access the data in the user's cloud data store.

The kiosk may, for example, access the project information 107 from thecloud data store upon scanning a code provided by the user. Indeed, thekiosk 101 may include a code scanner that is capable of scanning barcodes, quick response (QR) codes or other types of codes. The QR codemay include embedded information such as a link to the cloud data storeand information identifying the user. The project information may alsobe input directly at the kiosk 101 using, for example, a mouse, a touchscreen, a spectrophotometer that determines the color of a given item,or other input means. Accordingly, the project information 107 may beinput directly by the user at the kiosk 101, or may be accessed from anexternal data source such as a thumb drive or cloud data store. Once thekiosk has this project information 107, the kiosk can retrieve andpresent paint colors or home décor items that correspond to the user'sproject. For example, if the user scanned in a blue lamp as part of theproject, the kiosk 101 can display a room showing similar orcomplementary items to purchase.

Method 200 next includes determining, by the kiosk, a type of homeproject being pursued based on the received information (220). Theproject determining module 111 of the kiosk computer system 101 maydetermine the type of home project 112 being pursued by the user basedon the project information 107. In some cases, the project informationmay provide information indicating the general nature of the project(e.g. master bedroom remodeling or redecorating), or may provide morespecific information about the project.

In other cases, the project information 107 may only specify a paintcolor or a profile of paint colors that the user would like to use inthe project. The input may also specify certain pieces of hardware orappliances or home décor items that the user would like to use in theproject. In such cases, the project determining module 111 may look atthe color profiles and the project materials and/or material layout, andmay identify a specified home project 112. In some cases, the projectdetermining module 111 may narrow down the projects to a few options,and may prompt the user for input to select which project they areactually working on. Thus, the user may confirm the accuracy (oridentify the inaccuracy) in the determined home project 112.

Method 200 further includes identifying, by the kiosk, one or moreproducts that correspond to the determined type of home project andreceived one or more color profiles (230). For example, the productidentifying module 111 may identify products 114 that correspond to thedetermined type of home project 112 and the received color profiles 108.As indicated above, the product identifying module 113 may have accessto a retail establishment's inventory, both in-store and online. Theproduct identifying module 113 may thus examine a store's inventory todetermine which products it has that would be useful in or complement auser's project.

For example, the store's inventory may indicate each item's color, or aplurality of colors if the item is available in more than one color. Theproduct identifying module 113 may use this information to identifyproducts that fit the selected color profile 108 or would colorcoordinate or match with the selected color or colors. These productsmay also be products that correspond to the determined home project.Thus, if the project is a new deck, or a new playground, woods, stains,nails, screws and other similar products may be identified, while if theproject is a room remodel, or exterior façade remodel or basementbuild-out, products that are in-stock and available at that store andthat relate to that specific project may be identified and displayed tothe user on the kiosk.

In some cases, the home project information 107 may specify a particularroom of the user's home. As such, the products that correspond to thedetermined type of home project correspond to the specified room.Indeed, many companies provide finishing products and home décor itemsthat are designed for master bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, dens,boys' rooms, girls' rooms, babies' rooms, utility rooms, sun rooms,kitchens, outdoor living areas or other types of rooms or spaces. Thekiosk 101 displays images 116 of the products that correspond to thedetermined type of home project and to the received one or more colorprofiles (240). The images are displayed on the display 115 of thekiosk, which may be a touchscreen or traditional digital or analogdisplay.

Upon displaying these product images 116, the kiosk 101 may receivefurther user input selecting one or more of the displayed products. Oncethe user has selected a product's image, the kiosk may inform the userwhich of the selected products are available at the retailestablishment, and may further indicate where the selected products arelocated at the retail establishment. For example, as shown in FIG. 5,retail establishment 501 may include multiple different areas includinga checkout area 502, various aisles of goods 503 and a paint area 504(among other areas not shown). The retail establishment may be ahardware store or home goods store or other type of retailestablishment. The paint area 504 may be where the kiosk computer system505 (e.g. kiosk 101 from FIG. 1) is located. The kiosk may include adisplay 506 and various user interface means 507 including a keyboard,mouse, touchscreen or other user interface hardware. The user 508 mayuse the kiosk 505 to perform various functions including determiningproducts for a home project at the retail establishment 501, as isfurther shown in FIG. 6.

One example of a kiosk is shown in FIG. 6. The kiosk 601 includes adisplay 602 that displays various project-related items. These items mayinclude, among other things, directions to an item's location within theretail establishment 606. The directions may include an aisle number, amap showing where the specified aisle is located, a video showingdirections to the product or other ways of locating the selectedproduct(s) such as a pin on a digital map.

The kiosk 601 may further display paint colors 604 which may be thecolors that are part of the selected color profiles 108. The kiosk 601may also display home décor items 605. These may be the products 114that were identified by the product identifying module as being colorcoordinated with the selected color profile 108, and as matching theidentified home project 112. As mentioned previously, the kiosk 601 mayalso include a code scanner capable of scanning bar codes, QR codes orother types of codes. Using the code scanner, the user may input projectinformation, or may provide indications of products which the user wouldlike to use in their project (e.g. by scanning the product's bar code).These identified products may then be color-matched to other products orproject materials available for sale at the store or available online.

The kiosk 601 of FIG. 6 may further include a wireless synchronizationfeature 608 that allows users to upload images or other projectinformation to the kiosk. The user may use a Bluetooth connection, forexample, between their mobile device and the kiosk 601 to transferimages or other project information. The user may interact with thekiosk using keyboard 610, mouse pad 611 or may interact with the display602 directly if the display is a touchscreen. The user input devices mayallow the user to change settings, make selections, establish a link toa mobile device, scan codes or perform other tasks including requestingassistance. The kiosk 601 may display a request assistance 609 that,when selected, allows the kiosk user to request that a store personnelbe notified of the user's interest in a selected product. The user mayalso use the user interface hardware to select and/or change their userprofile 603.

The user profile 603 may include many different kinds of informationabout the kiosk user including the user's name, current project, pastprojects, color preferences or color profiles, product or brand namepreferences or other information that may be linked to their profileincluding project information stored on a cloud data store. Thus, a usermay log in at the kiosk 601 and select the user profile button 603 toaccess their user profile. This profile may list items purchased in thepast, items in a wish list, items selected for a current project(including paint colors 604 and home décor items 605) or other projectinformation. At least some portions of the project information may bestored in a cloud data store, and may be accessed on demand by the kiosk601. This project information may be used to identify other productsprovided by the retail establishment that would match or correspond to agiven project and/or color profile.

In this manner, the kiosk can identify products that are currentlyin-stock and available at the retail establishment, or are available tobe shipped online. In some cases, the user may be shown directions tothe products they have selected, or they may be guided to the locationof the products by a store personnel who has been notified of the user'sinterest in that product, or may notify another entity that the selectedproducts are to be automatically retrieved and given to the user.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a flowchart is illustrated of a method 300 fordetermining products for a home project through a kiosk at a point ofsale location corresponding to a retail establishment and based on auser's current or past behavior. The method 300 will now be describedwith frequent reference to the components and data of environment 400 ofFIG. 4 and the kiosk 601 of FIG. 6. As with the kiosk computer system101 of FIG. 1, the kiosk computer system 401 of FIG. 4 includes ahardware processor 402 and memory 403. The kiosk 401 also includes acommunications module 404 which may be configured to communicate withother computing systems (including other kiosks and users' mobiledevices) via wired or wireless connections.

Method 300 includes gathering current or past behavior informationcorresponding to a user (310). For example, behavior gathering module407 of kiosk computer system 401 may gather current or past behaviorinformation 408 from various sources corresponding to user 405. Thecurrent or past behavior information 408 may, for example, be associatedwith a user's profile (e.g. 603 of FIG. 6). The current or past behaviorinformation 408 may be stored on a local or remote data store 415.Indeed, while shown as being external to kiosk 401, the data store maybe 415 internal or external to the kiosk. Moreover, the data store 415may be local or distributed (e.g. a cloud data store).

The current or past behavior information 408 indicates how the user 405has interacted with the kiosk in the past. Each time the user interactswith the kiosk 601 including interacting with the keyboard 610, mousepad 611 or display 602, the kiosk may keep track of the user'sinteractions 406 and store them in the data store 415. The behaviorinformation 408 associated with the user 405 may thus be based onmultiple different kiosk interactions over time. The user's current orpast behavior information may indicate a selection of paint colors, aselection of home décor products, a selection of appliances or otherhardware, a selection of decorations, a preference for certain brands ortypes of products, an indication of past home projects, an indication ofwhich products were ultimately purchased at the retail establishment oronline, or other behavior information.

For instance, if a user makes an association between a color or colorprofile and a set of products, the kiosk computer system 101 mayremember that association and potentially suggest it to other kioskusers. Products that are purchased most often may be suggested to theuser according to their popularity, such that the most popular paintcolors and home décor items are shown first. The list of popular itemsmay be customized for the user, such that those items that are bothpopular and correspond to the user's project are shown to that specificuser.

This past user behavior information 408 may be stored in a user profileaccount. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, when a user logs in to or otherwiseaccesses the kiosk 601, the display 602 may include a user profile 603that shows the various project information and current or past behaviorinformation 408 associated with the user. The profile account 603 may bestored in a cloud computing system or cloud data store. As such, theuser profile account is accessible by the kiosk 601 over the internet.

Method 300 further includes determining one or more types of behaviorcorresponding to the user's current or past behavior (320). The behaviortype determining module 409 may determine a behavior type 410 based onthe current or past behavior information 408 and the user's currentinteraction 406 with the kiosk. If the behavior is selecting paint orhome décor items for a given home project, that behavior type 410 may bepassed to the color and product determining module 411 for determiningcolors and/or products that correspond to the determined type of userbehavior (330). The kiosk 601 then displays to the user images of thecolors 604 and/or products 605 that correspond to the determined type410 of user behavior (340).

The kiosk computer system 401/601 may, for example, receive user input406 selecting one or more of products that were determined to correspondto the user's behavior type. Once the products have been selected, thekiosk may inform the user which of the selected products are availableat the retail establishment, and may provide directions to the productswithin the store. As mentioned above, different kiosk users may makeassociations between products and colors or color profiles. Theseassociations may be taken into account when recommending products to theuser 405.

Thus, when the kiosk receives user input selecting one or more ofdisplayed paint colors 604, for example, the kiosk may display images ofproducts that correspond to the selected colors based (at least in part)on the product-to-color associations made by other kiosk users orsuggestions based on other customer's behavior and/or feedback about aparticular project or product. Still further, the kiosk may makeassociations between products, colors and behavior types. Many kiosksinstalled in a variety of different locations countrywide may receiveuser inputs, and each user's behavior may be monitored and tracked. Thisbehavior may indicate certain product-to-color associations, orproduct-to-home-project associations or other behavioral associationsthat may be learned over time. These learned associations may be used tosuggest products, paint colors, home décor items or even other homeprojects to users, based on what kiosks in that area or other areas havelearned about users in that area or about users in general.

In one example, a kiosk or plurality of kiosks may provide behavior datato a central repository which identifies trends or new associationsbetween products and colors or products and home projects. These trendsmay be confined to one geographic region, or may be countrywide orworldwide. Thus, the kiosks may be configured to display or otherwisesuggest to the user associations that are popular in that area orregion, or are trending that day, week, month or year. The kiosk maythus be continually updated to show the latest color recommendations orproduct recommendations based on a selected color or product.

The kiosk may then make determinations as to which of the products arecurrently in stock at the store and specifically suggest those productsto the kiosk user. In this manner, kiosks worldwide may intercommunicateto learn user behaviors and behavior types, and learn from thosebehaviors which paint colors and products to suggest to users to providethe most helpful information to the user, and to assist the store inselling useful products to their customers.

Accordingly, methods, systems and computer program products are providedwhich determine products for a home project through a kiosk at a pointof sale location corresponding to a retail establishment. Moreover,methods, systems and computer program products are provided whichdetermine products for a home project through a kiosk at a point of salelocation corresponding to a retail establishment and based on a user'scurrent or past behavior.

As used in the specification, a word appearing in the singularencompasses its plural counterpart, and a word appearing in the pluralencompasses its singular counterpart, unless implicitly or explicitlyunderstood or stated otherwise. Furthermore, it is understood that forany given component or embodiment described herein, any of the possiblecandidates or alternatives listed for that component may generally beused individually or in combination with one another, unless implicitlyor explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Additionally, it will beunderstood that any list of such candidates or alternatives is merelyillustrative, not limiting, unless implicitly or explicitly understoodor stated otherwise. In addition, unless otherwise indicated, numbersexpressing quantities of ingredients, constituents, reaction conditionsand so forth used in the specification and claims are to be understoodas being modified by the term “about.”

Furthermore, as used in the specification and appended claims,directional terms, such as “top,” “bottom,” “left,” “right,” “up,”“down,” “upper,” “lower,” “proximal,” “distal” and the like are usedherein solely to indicate relative directions and are not otherwiseintended to limit the scope of the invention or claims.

In the drawings, like numerals designate like elements. Furthermore,multiple instances of an element may each include separate lettersappended to the element number. For example two instances of aparticular element “20” may be labeled as “20a” and “20b”. In that case,the element label may be used without an appended letter (e.g., “20”) togenerally refer to every instance of the element; while the elementlabel will include an appended letter (e.g., “20a”) when referring to aspecific instance of the element.

The concepts and features described herein may be embodied in otherspecific forms without departing from their spirit or descriptivecharacteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in allrespects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of thedisclosure is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather thanby the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaningand range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within theirscope.

We claim:
 1. A computerized method of determining products for a homeproject through a computer system, comprising: providing a computersystem having a spectrophotometer connected thereto; receiving userinput at the computer system, the user input corresponding to projectinformation, the user input being converted into an electronic signal,wherein the user input comprises the computer system digitally readingspectrophotometer data via the spectrophotometer; determining by thecomputer system from the digital reading of the spectrophotometer datathat the project information includes one or more user color choices,and one or more user choices of project materials; storing the one ormore user color choices in connection with one or more color profilesfor the user; retrieving a learned association corresponding to thedetermined one or more choices of project materials from a data store,wherein the learned association identifies a product-to-home-projectassociation made by another end user at another computer system at adifferent location; determining, by the computer system using thespectrophotometer data, and the learned association, a type of homeproject being pursued by the user; identifying, by the computer system,one or more products that correspond to the determined type of homeproject and received one or more color choices; and displaying on adigital display of the computer system images of the identified one ormore products that correspond to (i) the determined type of homeproject, and (ii) the received one or more color choices.
 2. Thecomputerized method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving layoutinformation from the user, wherein the layout information indicates howthe determined one or more user choices of project materials are to belaid out in a given room; and the computer system determining from thedigitally read information and the received layout information that thehome project information specifies a particular room of the home, suchthat the products that correspond to the determined type of home projectcorrespond to the specified room.
 3. The computerized method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving, by the computer system, user inputselecting one or more of the displayed products; and informing the user,by the computer system, which of the selected products are available atthe retail establishment.
 4. The computerized method of claim 3, furthercomprising indicating, by the computer system, where the selectedproducts are located at the retail establishment.
 5. The computerizedmethod of claim 3, further comprising associating, by the computersystem, one or more products available at the retail establishment withone or more types of home projects.
 6. The computerized method of claim1, wherein the project information is accessed by the computer systemfrom a home computing system belonging to the user.
 7. The computerizedmethod of claim 1, wherein the project information is accessed by thecomputer system from a cloud computing system.
 8. The computerizedmethod of claim 7, wherein the computer system accesses the projectinformation from the cloud computing system upon digitally scanning andinterpreting a barcode presented by the user to a barcode readerconnected to the computer system.
 9. The computerized method of claim 1,wherein: determining the type of home project further comprisesidentifying prior user interactions with the computer system that arestored in the data store; wherein the prior interactions include one ormore product selections corresponding to the determined type of homeproject.
 10. The computerized method of claim 9, wherein: determiningthe type of home project further comprises the computer systemidentifying from a profile in the data store that is stored for the userthat the user was recently viewing paint products in a previous sessionat another computer system; the method further comprising: displayingone or more paint products available at a point-of-sale location thatcorrelate with the spectrophotometer data; and displaying one or morerelated products, the related products comprising products previouslyassociated with the one or more displayed paint products by one or moreother end users.
 11. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein thecomputer system comprises a kiosk positioned at a point-of-salelocation.
 12. A computer system computer system comprising: at least oneprocessor; a spectrophotometer; and an input receiving module forreceiving user input via the spectrophotometer, the user inputcomprising presentation a physical object to the spectrophotometer;wherein the user input receiving module determines from data receivedfrom the spectrophotometer that the user input corresponds to projectinformation that includes one or more user color choices, and one ormore user choices related to project materials and layout; a behaviorgathering module for gathering user behavior information from one ormore data stores, wherein the one or more data stores comprise one ormore learned associations that correlate user associations of one ormore materials to one or more types of home projects; a projectdetermining module for determining a type of home project being pursuedfrom the user input based on the received user input and one of the oneor more learned associations retrieved from one of the one or more datastores; a product identifying module for identifying one or moreproducts that correspond to the determined type of home project andreceived one or more color profiles; and a display for displaying on adigital display of the computer system images of the one or more firstsuggested products that correspond to the determined type of homeproject and to the received one or more color profiles.
 13. The computersystem computer system of claim 12, further comprising: the inputreceiving module further receives user input selecting one or more ofthe products displayed in the display; wherein the display displaysinformation indicating which of the selected products are available atthe retail establishment and where to find the selected products withinthe retail establishment.
 14. The computer system computer system ofclaim 12, further comprising: a second remote computer system in ageographic region of the user, wherein the second remote computer systemstores a second learned association of a second suggested product tohome project type; and a third remote computer system outside thegeographic region of the user, wherein the third remote computer systemstores a third learned association of a third suggested product to homeproject type.
 15. The computer system computer system of claim 14,wherein the computer system that receives the user input furtherperforms the following: evaluate the learned association of the secondand third remote computer systems by geographic region; and display tothe user the second suggested product based on a determination that theuser is in the same geographic region as the second remote computersystem.
 16. The computer system computer system of claim 14, wherein thecomputer system that receives the user input further performs thefollowing: evaluate the learned association of the second and thirdremote computer systems, and display to the user the third suggestedproduct based on a determination that the third learned association ismore popular than the second learned association of the second remotecomputer system.
 17. The computerized method of claim 12, wherein thecomputer system comprises a kiosk positioned at a point-of-salelocation.
 18. A computerized method of determining a type of homeproject and corresponding product suggestions through a computer system,comprising: providing a computer system having a spectrophotometerconnected thereto; scanning, via the spectrophotometer, one or moreproject materials provided physically by an end user to thespectrophotometer; receiving additional input from the end user at thecomputer system, the user input comprising layout information of atleast one of the scanned one or more project materials; determining fromthe spectrophotometer one or more colors corresponding to the scannedproject materials; storing, on a data store, the determined one or morecorresponding colors of project materials with a profile of the enduser; retrieving a learned association corresponding to the determinedone or more choices of project materials from a data store, wherein thelearned association identifies at least one product-to-home-projectassociation made by another user at another computer system;determining, by the computer system, from (i) the learned association,(ii) the determined one or more colors, and (iii) the end user input onlayout information that the one or more project materials correspond toa type of home project being pursued by the user; determining, by thecomputer system, one or more suggested products that correspond to andare complementary with the determined type of home project anddetermined one or more colors; and displaying on a digital display ofthe computer system images of the one or more suggested products in aroom, wherein the displayed room shows (i) products that correspond tothe scanned one or more project materials, and (ii) the determined oneor more complementary project materials to purchase.
 19. Thecomputerized method of claim 18, wherein determining by the computersystem the type of home project further comprises: scanning one or morebarcodes or QR codes on each of the one or more project materials via adigital code scanner device connected to the computer system; whereinthe computer system further determines the type of home project from(iv) data obtained from the digital code scanner device.
 20. Thecomputerized method of claim 18, further comprising the computer systemdisplaying the one or more suggested products in an order thatcorresponds to a popularity of the one or more suggested products withother users.
 21. The computerized method of claim 18, wherein the typeof home project further comprises: the computer system identifying aplurality of options of home project type based on the determined one ormore colors and layout information; and prompting the user for inputthrough the display to select one of the identified home project typeoptions.
 22. The computerized method of claim 18, wherein layoutinformation comprises user input of a specified arrangement of aplurality of the following materials in a given room: flooring,appliances or faucets, countertops, and cupboards.
 23. The computerizedmethod of claim 18, wherein the computer system comprises a kioskpositioned at a point-of-sale location.